An official Chinese delegation left here on Wednesday for talks in Moscow on the fate of 150 merchants from China seized by Russian authorities in a smuggling crackdown, state media said.
The delegation led by Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng comes after the traders and huge amounts of their merchandise were seized in a raid on Moscow’s sprawling Cherkizovsky Market.
The market, notorious for its contraband goods sold by thousands of traders from China and Central Asia out of shipping containers and from open-air stalls, was closed temporarily on June 30 for sanitation violations.
The closure came after Russian media reports said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was annoyed at the extravagance of Cherkizovsky’s multi-millionaire owner Telman Ismailov.
Russian officials have said the market was likely to be shut for good this year.
About 80 000 Chinese merchants trade at the market and the crackdown will force many out of business, earlier Chinese state media reports said, quoting experts warning the row could stymie Chinese investment in Russia.
Xinhua said Gao’s delegation will include officials from China’s Foreign Ministry, its customs bureau as well as trade officials from provinces that are home to many of the Cherkizovsky merchants.
It did not specify who the Chinese delegation would meet with.
China’s Commerce Ministry called on Russia in a statement last week to avoid ”overreacting” in its clampdown on the bazaar, saying it had caused ”enormous economic losses” to Chinese traders there.
However, the statement also expressed support for anti-smuggling efforts. — Sapa-AFP